Botafogo captain Marlon Freitas said Tuesday that his team has "high expectations" as it seeks a place in the Copa Libertadores semifinals for the first time in more than half a century.

The Rio de Janeiro outfit will meet Brazilian Serie A rivals Sao Paulo in the first leg of the quarterfinals on Wednesday and Freitas could barely contain his enthusiasm for the clash at Botafogo's Olympic Stadium.

"Expectations are high. We're upbeat about what is sure to be a great game, against a very tough opponent," the midfielder told Botafogo's official website.

"We are well prepared to play a great game at home. We want to piece together everything that we've been working on and get a positive result in these first 90 minutes."

Freitas said he was looking forward to playing in front of a near-capacity crowd of 40,000 fans in the first leg.

"The support of the fans is very important because the Copa Libertadores is a very tough competition," the 29-year-old said. "We had a tough start in the group stage and the fans believed in us, which helped us to get where we are. We need their support for the full 90 minutes."

Botafogo last progressed to the semifinals of the Copa Libertadores in 1973. Since then they have only appeared in South America's premier club competition four times: in 1996, 2014, 2017 and 2024.

During the same period, Sao Paulo have won the competition on three occasions: in 1992, 1993 and 2005.

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